Mangareva

Mangareva is the largest of the Gambier Islands, a high volcanic island rising within a lagoon surrounded by reefs. Its people cultivated the slopes and valleys and sustained connections with other eastern Polynesian islands; stone adzes found in the archipelago show ties with the Marquesas and Society Islands. The islands were governed by Mangarevan chiefs, whose authority extended beyond the central island. In 1797 James Wilson sighted the Gambier group while carrying missionaries across the Pacific. French Catholic missionaries Honoré Laval and François Caret arrived in 1834, introducing a faith that would transform the island’s religious life. King Maputeoa at first resisted their teaching, but was baptized in 1836.